Rising regional unemployment 'emergency' election issue

Peter Martin, Henrietta Cook

Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Geelong have emerged as employment flashpoints in the state election, recording increases in joblessness that dwarf those in Melbourne.

A Fairfax Media analysis of regional labour force data shows the average unemployment rate in Ballarat has surged from 2.5 per cent to 6.4 per cent in the space of a year. The unemployment rate in Bendigo has jumped from 5.1 per cent to 8 per cent.

Fairfax has averaged the unemployment rate for the past three months in each of the regions identified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It has compared the result for the average of August, September and October in 2013.

In Shepparton, hit by uncertainty about the future of fruit cannery SPC Ardmona, unemployment has climbed from 5.25 per cent to 7.4 per cent.

In Geelong, hit by the planned withdrawal of companies such as Ford, unemployment has jumped from 5 per cent to 8.2 per cent.

Only in the north-west of the state and in Melbourne's inner-east did unemployment fall. The rate in the north-west slipped from 5.8 to 5.3 per cent over the past year and the rate in the inner-east from 5.9 to 5.3 per cent. The unemployment rate in Melbourne's north-west was broadly steady at 7 per cent.

Melbourne's highest unemployment areas are in the west and in the south-east, where the rates have climbed from 6.8 and 6.5 per cent to 7.6 and 7.5 per cent.

Unemployment in Melbourne's inner-south and north-east has climbed from 5.2 and 5 per cent to 6.8 and 6.2 per cent.

On a map of Melbourne, the worst job prospects are faced by those who live in the west, north-west and outer east.

The unemployment rate is 6.5 per cent on the Mornington Peninsula. In Melbourne's north-east it is 6.2 per cent and in the inner-east 5.3 per cent.